Forgive and Forget
by Marcela86
Summary: Alternate plot take-off from Germ Theory
1. Chapter 1

Title: Forgive and Forget

Author: Marcela86

Rating: PG-13 to be safe

Feedback: YES!!! I love reviews!

Disclaimer: The Invisible Man doesn't belong to me(I wish!). No copyright infringement is intended. The beginning part (up to the first stars) is the script from 'Germ Theory' transcribed by StarvedChocobo. (http://www.geocities.com/imaniac30/)

Summary: Alternate plot take-off from Germ Theory 

Spoilers: Big ones for Germ Theory, and Brother's Keeper(eventually)

Author notes: This is a work in progress, and I'm sorry to say that I have a good relationship with my friend, Mr. Procrastination. By the way, does anyone know how to get the italics to show up in fanfiction.net from Microsoft Word?

_The scene opens in the Keep, on a tray of vials filled with a green liquid._)

DARIEN: (voice-over) Composers of traditional Japanese music believe that true expression is found not only in the notes, but in the silences between them.

(_The camera pans to the entrance to the Keep, where Hobbes, carrying a giant load of paperwork, staggers in._)

HOBBES: Hey Keep.

(_Claire, who is working nearby, looks up._)

CLAIRE: Hello.

HOBBES: How you doing? Any idea where my see-through partner is, huh? I'm being buried alive in paperwork here, I could use a hand.

DARIEN: (voice-over) In other words, know when to shut up.

CLAIRE: Since when are you on filing duty?

HOBBES: Ever since I made an innocent comment to the fat man that my cases have been a bit of a bore lately.

(_Eberts comes up behind Hobbes as he is talking, and places another set of files on top of the stack Hobbes is already carrying._)

EBERTS: Great news, Robert. I was able to pull a few strings, and managed to get you your own staple remover.

(_Eberts pulls out the staple remover._)

HOBBES: That's great. You know, I'm a highly trained, decorated field agent, Eberts. I can kill a man thirty ways right now with my bare hands.

EBERTS: But can you collate?

(_Eberts clicks the staple remover and starts to walk off._)

EBERTS: Come, Robert.

(_Hobbes stands still for a moment, upset, then follows Eberts. Claire tries hard to repress a smile as Hobbes walks out, stumbling slightly as he leaves. Darien suddenly appears in front of Claire, shedding quicksilver and reading a file. Claire turns back to her work and sees Darien._)

CLAIRE: Ohh!

(_Claire puts a hand to her head, then recovers and snatches the file from Darien. Darien merely stares at Claire, chewing gum._)

CLAIRE: Avoiding paperwork is not a good reason for quicksilvering.

DARIEN: Avoiding? Moi? No.

(_Darien stands up and backs towards the chair._)

DARIEN: I was… I was merely waiting, quietly, for my shot.

(_Claire sighs, and walks over to Darien as he sits down in the chair. Darien grins at Claire as she sits down, then looks off to the side, at the tray of vials with green liquid in them. He picks one vial up and inspects it._)

DARIEN: Hey, can I have the last of the Kool-Aid here?

CLAIRE: That is an experimental reagent which may work as a time-release form of counteragent, which may act as a safety buffer for times when you can't get one of these injections and which, though it won't free you from your counteragent dependency, could save your life one of these days, so in other words, please stop playing with my lab equipment.

(_Claire ties Darien's arm and readies a needle as she talks._)

DARIEN: Whoa, that was a really long run-on sentence, but okay, if you say so.

(_Darien attempts to set the vial back, but sets it down too hard and breaks it._)

CLAIRE: Ohh, Darien! It's two weeks of work!

(_Darien tries to pick up a shard of glass, but cuts himself instead._)

DARIEN: Aah!

(_Claire grabs Darien's arm and sticks him with the needle, angrily._)

DARIEN: Aaah!

(_Claire smiles unapologetically at him. Claire wipes off the injection spot as Darien looks at his finger, which is covered in blood._)

DARIEN: Ah, crap. Hey, I, I got kind of a nasty cut here. Could you…

(_Darien motions towards his finger. Claire simply looks at the finger, then at Darien, then gets up and walks off._)

DARIEN: Or I'll get my own band-aid.

(_Claire walks over to the tray, and crunches on the glass. She glares at Darien. Darien looks over at Claire._)

*************************

"-And a broom" Darien added, seeing the look of animosity on his keeper's face. This little accident of his had obviously been a great loss to Claire. He started to apologize, "Look, Claire, I'm so sorry about your experiment." He thought he'd try a joke. "Guess I don't know my own strength, huh."

Claire growled "Darien! This is _not_ a laughing matter! You shouldn't have touched that. It's two week of work down the drain!" She sighed and closed her eyes to stop her temper. "Just clean that mess up and get out of here, I can't deal with you right now. I've got to redo the _entire_ experiment."

Darien inhaled deeply. He went to get some cleaning supplies before he dug himself even deeper. His mind on how to make it up to Claire, Darien didn't pay full attention to the glass and got several more nasty cuts on his hands. Soon, the crimson of his blood was swirling with the green re-agent on the floor, making it very Christmas-y. He finished cleaning up the mess, including his blood, and tossed the paper towel into the trashcan. Wincing at the cuts on his hands, he walked up to Claire, who was sitting at her computer.

"Hey, um… Claire?" Darien asked hesitantly. She gave him the slightest sign to continue, eyes still on her work.

"Do you have any bandages or something like that? I kinda got a few more cuts from the glass." Darien asked.

She nodded, and pointed out some cabinets, "Top third to the left." She continued her work, her mouth a tight line.

After grabbing the bandages from their cabinet, Darien ran his multiple cuts under cool, running water via the sink in the keep, and wrapped his hands. He was about to leave the Keep, when he thought he'd try to apologize once more. This only further aggravated Claire, "Just-just get out of here before you screw anything else up!" Darien merely nodded hesitantly and walked through the keep door. As a parting remark, he said, "I'll see you tomorrow morning, Keepie." She kept at her work, a small frown on her face, not acknowledging his departure.

*************************

Later on, that evening, the Keeper was re-working the experiment that Darien had wrecked. She had an eyedropper positioned precariously over a beaker of liquid and was silently counting the number of drops she was adding. This part of the experiment was very precise, so she had to take extra care to painstakingly count out all 125 drops of the substance. Suddenly, a loud trill assaulted her senses. She started at the noise, squeezing the bulb of the eyedropper. The liquid quickly spurted out in a spray of droplets that landed in the beaker and on the table, making a mess of her research papers. Groaning in aggravation, she rolled her chair over to the phone.

"Hello?" She said irately. "Whoever this is, it had better be good!"

"Oh, um, hey Keep," Claire could practically _hear_ him wincing at the other end. "I- um, I just wanted to call in to apologize again for that accident in the lab today. If there's anything I could do—" Claire cut him off.

"Just leave me alone! Do you have any idea what I was doing when you called?" she sighed, frustrated, and kept talking, not waiting for an answer. "It's very important and precise work, and now I have to start all over again! Just stay away from me and stop being a pain in the neck!"

"Oh, gee, sorry again, Keep. I didn't mean—" the Keeper cut him off by hanging up the phone.

************Next Morning************

Claire was busily working on her computer, her fingers flying quickly across the keyboard. She needed to get all this information entered into the computer before she could go on to the next stage of the experiment. Suddenly, the phone rang again. Her brow wrinkled in confusion. 

_Who would be calling her at this time? Surely Darien wouldn't _dare_ try to call after last night's incident._

"Hello?" she asked, forcing herself into something that would pass as a cheery manner of voice.

"Hey, Claire?" Darien started. "I've kinda got a little problem here. I could _really_ use your help."

Claire laughed at this. "You have _got_ to be kidding me. After that little chain of events yesterday?"

Darien cut her off, his tone of voice hurt, "Yeah, I know, and I'm still very sorry, but I really, _really_ need your help."

"Right," Claire said, unbelieving. She hung up the phone. After a couple of seconds, the phone was ringing again. Groaning in annoyance, she used her foot to yank the phone cord out of the wall.

_There_, she thought, _that's the end of that._

About an hour later, Hobbes entered the keep.

"Hey, Keepie! You seen Fawkes around here? Fat man wants us all in his office to go over the next case."

She felt a touch of anger at the memory of yesterday's events, but pushed it aside. "No, I haven't seen him. We should just go to the Official's office and wait for him there."

Hobbes nodded and waited by the door, letting Claire go through first. Once in the Official's office, Darien's absence began to make itself known.

"And where, pray tell, is Mr. Fawkes?" The Official asked, keeping his temper in check.

"Um, sir? I would be happy to go to his house, check to see if he might have slept in again." Hobbes offered.

Claire dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand, "No, no, he's up. He called me this morning."

"Well? Did he say anything? Tell you he was going to be late?" Hobbes asked, starting to get worried about his partner.

"No, he was just trying to apologize again for pestering me and ruining my experiments on _several_ occasions," Claire answered Hobbes, the annoyance towards Darien showing in her voice.

The Official sighed in annoyance. "We need to find him, so that we can get on with the briefing. Eberts?"

"Yes, sir. I'll call his house right now." Eberts replied. After letting the phone ring for a while, he deduced that Darien wasn't currently at his house, or chose not to answer the phone. He relayed this information to the others. 

The Keeper groaned in disapproval. "This is _so_ like him. He's starting to become very irresponsible."

Hobbes came to Darien's defense, "Come on, Keep. He's not that bad. He's probably just got a lot on his mind right now."

"That's no excuse. He should be here, on time!" Claire was starting to get even more irritated with Darien, and she was about to take it out on Hobbes.

"Hobbes?" The official asked, breaking up the imminent fight.

"Yes, sir?" Hobbes was ready to go out and find Darien, so he could get on with work.

"Go check his apartment, and then anywhere else you think he—"

A knock at the door caught everyone's attention. It was erratic and loud. The Official told Eberts to get the door, and then decided to just wait. Claire and Hobbes were fixated on the door, waiting for it to be opened. The search for Fawkes would have to wait until they found out who was behind the door.

Eberts grabbed the doorknob and opened the door…revealing Darien.

Claire didn't waste any time reprimanding him for his lateness, "Darien, this is very inconsiderate of you. You have responsibilities, and-and a job that you need to be on time for. If the rest of us can make it here, so can you. There's no excuse."

Darien just stood there, leaning on the doorframe. He listened as Claire chewed him out for his recklessness, staying silent until she was finished. Noticing that she was done, and waiting for a response, Darien started, weakly, "Well, yeah. All good points, but…" He trailed off, out of breath.

Hobbes noticed an odd tone in his partner's voice. He looked closer and saw sweat trailing down his face, his body shaking slightly. "Hey, Fawkes? You feeling ok? You don't look so good." 

Darien coughed harshly. "That's probably because… because I don't feel so good." He punctuated the statement by collapsing, unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Forgive and Forget (Chapter two)

Author: Marcela86

Rating: PG-13 to be safe

Feedback: YES!!! I love reviews!

Disclaimer: The Invisible Man doesn't belong to me(I wish!). No copyright infringement is intended. 

Summary: Alternate plot take-off from Germ Theory 

Spoilers: Big ones for Germ Theory, and Brother's Keeper

Author notes: This is a work in progress, and I'm sorry to say that I have a good relationship with my friend, Mr. Procrastination. I'm surprised that I've written this so soon, but the idea for this chapter has been hanging in the back of my head. After this, I've got no idea as to where the plot's going to go. The plot bunny that's graced me with its presence hasn't told me yet.

"Oh, God! Darien!" Hobbes yelled, rushing to his partner's collapsed form. "Claire! He's not breathing!"

Claire reached Darien a couple of seconds after Hobbes did, and assessed the situation. "Bobby, you need to back up, give me some room!" Claire frantically gave out orders, while laying Darien flat on his back. "I need to give him mouth-to-mouth," she stated, more to herself than for her colleagues' benefit. She felt an enormous guilt welling up, but she pushed it aside- for the moment. She needed to focus on getting Darien well; she could feel bad about this later.

As Claire performed the kiss of life, she felt another surge of emotions wash over her. Guilt. (**_Why_**_ didn't I listen to his cry for help?_) Anger. (_How could I have done this to Darien?_) Anxiety. (_Will I be able to save him?_) 

And there, the strongest feeling of all- Regret. _Regret? No, not the guilty feeling that I had before. What **is** this?_

As she felt her thoughts racing, she discovered she was getting something…more, out of the kiss. She was _actually_ enjoying it. In those heart-stopping moments, she realized her love for her kept, something she had desperately tried to prevent from happening since day one. 

Trying to keep her head with her new-found knowledge, she remained calm and managed to get Darien breathing and out of the red. Instructing Hobbes to move Darien, gently, to The Keep, she mentally made a to-do list on tests she had to do on Darien's blood. She ran down the hall after Hobbes, jumping in front of him to hit the elevator button.

After a somber, silent trip in the elevator, and another mad dash to the keep, Darien was lying in the 'demented dentist's chair'. Claire checked Darien's vitals, and concluded that he was in no immediate danger. She drew some blood, and immediately started testing it to ascertain the problem.

A half-hour later, she kicked Hobbes out of the lab, promising to call his cell the _minute_ anything changed. She needed more time to test, _in peace_, and she couldn't with him pestering her every few minutes.

Yawning, Claire went through her experiments in progress, none finished yet. She realized how tired she was when she woke up, having fell asleep on the keyboard of her computer. Frowning, she ran a hand through her hair, and checked the clock. She had only been napping for 10 minutes. She looked around the lab, and something caught her eye. Darien was up, and standing by her terrarium for the tarantula. He was staring inside the glass curiously, and turned around when he realized Claire was awake also.

He smiled, and said warmly, "Sorry, I didn't want to wake you, you looked so peaceful."

She smiled back, and surprised him by running up to him and giving him a tight hug. He looked at her inquisitively, much like he had done with the spider. "I'm just so glad to see you up and about," she explained herself. "We were sure we lost you."

His eyes filled with concern, which prompted her to go on. "Okay," she started, "I have something really important to tell you, but I want you to wait until I'm all the way through before you ask any questions."

He nodded, hesitantly, and she went on. "Ok, I don't know if Bobby's told you yet, or anything, but I had a relationship with your brother ten years ago. I thought, that with his passing, I would be able to move on. But when he came back, he just brought up a whole truckload of feelings that I'd long since abandoned. We- well, we kissed, and I realized that I actually wasn't in love with him anymore. I somehow knew that it could never work out again." Claire sighed, remembering the feelings she had buried after the incident. "But I realized I still felt _love_. I guess I was just thinking of the wrong person." She smiled.

"I really care about you, Darien. I almost had a heart attack today, seeing you come into the office in the state you were in. I felt so guilty." Darien's brow was knitted with concern. "I realized, that _I love you_, Darien."

Claire blinked out of the serious speech she had just told Darien, and smiled sheepishly. "Boy, I'm just rattling on and on. I'm sure you must have a ton of questions for me, don't you?"

Darien tried to mirror her smile, but ended up with a more empty, sad smile. He moved back over to the terrarium. "Actually," Darien said. "I just have one question, for now."

Claire prompted him, encouraging him with open eyes.

He sighed, and fidgeted, opening the lid, and reaching inside. He picked up the spider, absentmindedly, and stroked it's back. Claire stared at him, eyes wide. He turned and looked to Claire. "Who are you?"


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Forgive and Forget (Chapter three)

Author: Marcela86

Rating: PG-13 to be safe

Feedback: YES!!! I love reviews!

Disclaimer: The Invisible Man doesn't belong to me(I wish!). No copyright infringement is intended. 

Summary: Alternate plot take-off from Germ Theory 

Spoilers: Big ones for Germ Theory, and Brother's Keeper

Author's Notes:

Wow. I tried to warn all of you when I started this, but I didn't mean for there to be _this much time in between updates. I'm really sorry about the wait, and I'd like to dedicate this next part to all those who took the time to read my story and reply to it. You guys don't know how much those reviews mean to me. (unless you, yourself, write fic. hehe) I'll try to get this story going again, with faster updates; but that all depends on how much time my life will allow me to work on my fics. There might be a bit of time after this chapter for the next update regardless, as it seems the plot bunny has up and run away in my absence. *walks away muttering about 'darn, no good, sneaky plot bunnies*_

PS- If you have the time, please go and R&R the other, non-I-Man stories I've posted! They don't get much attention. 

PSS- On another note, I've started uploading some of my artwork onto a site called elfwood.com, my page is at: http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/loth/s/c/scififreaker/scififreaker.html 

Thanks, and on with the story…

---------------------------------------

The door to The Keep _swooshed_ open, and Hobbes strode inside. "Claire, I know you don't want me in here pestering you, but I really need to keep an eye on- DARIEN?"

Hobbes ran over to the section of the lab where he saw Darien and Claire standing, and glanced at their faces. Something was going on here; he could tell. Claire's mouth was hung open in disbelief, and his partner was cradling… something. It was too dark to tell.

Darien looked up and smiled sheepishly. "Oh, hey…" he trailed off, and turned to Claire, looking at her pointedly. 

She snapped out of her reverie, and supplied, "Bobby." Hobbes looked from one to the other in deep confusion, and tried to get a closer look at what Darien was holding.

"What's going on here?" he asked. "And while we're at it, why is Fawkes holding a…" he reached forward and lifted Darien's hand off the creature, causing the tarantula to scrabble up Darien's arm. "Spider?!"

Claire sighed, and stepped forward, a look of chagrin on her face. "Darien," she said, addressing the man who was interestedly watching the arachnid move up his arm. He looked up quizzically at her voice.

"That's me, right?" Darien asked. His brow was wrinkled in confusion, eyes full of concern and a touch of anxiety. A small frown played on his face. Claire sighed again, her fears confirmed, and turned to Hobbes. She frowned, "Bobby, it seems we have a problem."

********************

Claire and Hobbes stared at each other, trying to think of a way to help out the situation. Trying to break the ice, a still confused Darien tried to get some answers.

"Okay," he started, eyes narrowed in concentration. "My name is…Darien Fawkes?" he asked, trying to piece together the pieces of information he had heard since the lady doctor woke up. He looked over to the other two in the room, looking for confirmation.

Hobbes still stood motionless, eyeing Darien with shock. Claire, however, snapped out of her disbelief enough to nod to Darien. "Yes," she added to the motion.

Darien scrunched his nose up at that. "Ew…" A look of disappointment and disgust masked his features, and caused both Claire and Hobbes to grin in the humor of it.

Hobbes squinted his eyes once again at Darien, then turned to Claire. "What happened? Did the weight of his hair finally do in his brain?" Hobbes had a wry grin on his face, trying to play down the seriousness of the situation with a joke. Claire sighed and gently took the spider from Darien's arm, placing it back into its home.

"Well at least I _have_ hair, Lithium Bob," Darien quipped absentmindedly, his eyes twinkling. When he finished, he looked as shocked as Claire and Bobby. "Whoa," he said, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. "I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from. I mean, I barely know you, and already I'm insulting you."

"No, Darien, you don't need to apologize," Claire said warmly, a small smile forming on her face. "It looks like you'll be getting your memory back, eventually."

"So, ah…what do we do until then?" Hobbes asked, visibly relieved from the latest piece of news.

"Well," Claire started. "We could try to jog his memory…"

*************************

An hour later, Darien was filled in on the limited knowledge Claire and Hobbes knew of his past, and up to some of the cases Hobbes and he had been on. So far, they left out the parts having to do with Quicksilver and the rest of the QS9300 project. 

After a while, Darien caught on that they were hiding something from him, catching sight of the troubled glances they shot back and forth. "Okay," he said at last. "I may have amnesia, but I'm pretty sure I'm not stupid. Now, you guys are hiding something from me, and I wanna know what." He looked expectantly to Claire, then Hobbes.

The two looked to each other, seemingly arguing with their eyes. Finally, Hobbes broke the silence. "Claire, we need to tell him. He deserves to know." He stared at Darien sympathetically.

"But Bobby, this could seriously traumatize him!" Claire sighed, aggravated. "It took him so long to get over his…situation, and I don't think he'll be able to take it all in so quickly."

Darien was very confused by the heated argument going on before him, and a bit concerned. "Okay, you know what?" he interrupted the other two. "I think I'm capable of handling whatever you're gonna tell me, and I'm pretty sure you guys know me as a stubborn person."

"You got that right," Hobbes muttered under his breath, which elicited a small smile on Claire. She rolled her eyes, and sighed, holding up her hands in an 'I give up' fashion. "You want to tell him, or should I?"

"Um…I guess you should be the one to tell him, 'cause you know all about the science parts of it," Hobbes said, wringing his hands nervously.

Claire sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose. She had expected that response from Bobby. Now she just had to find the best way to break the bad news to Darien.

*************************

"Okay," she said, clapping her hands together, and frowning. "Well, there's really no easy way to put this."

Darien looked at her in anticipation, waiting anxiously to hear more about the past he couldn't remember. 

"Okay," she started, taking a deep breath. "Approximately two years ago, you were implanted with a bio-synthetic gland by your brother. The purpose of the implantation was to gather research on the effects of…_quicksilver_ in the human body."

"Okay, question," Darien interrupted her, clearly shaken up by the news. "What's quicksilver? I'm pretty sure, from what I learned in school, that it's another name for mercury, but that stuff's deadly." He shifted in his seat. "I'm gonna assume it's not mercury, since I've survived with it for two years, but what exactly _is_ it?"

"Okay, this is gonna seem pretty unbelievable, but this quicksilver, when it's secreted from the gland, can- well, it can…" Claire trailed off, not sure how to put it so that Darien would believe her.

"You can turn invisible," Hobbes finished for The Keeper, eliciting a shocked look on Darien's face. Darien's brow creased as he thought about what he had just heard. His face was shrouded in confusion, and a small frown played on his mouth. After a few more seconds of deliberation, a wide grin cracked on his face.

"Oh, okay, I get it- Darien has amnesia, so let's mess with his head," he shook his head, chuckling softly. "You know what? You guys had me going there, for a second." He sighed. "But, really. What were you gonna tell me?"

"We just told you," Hobbes deadpanned, hoping Darien would catch on to his serious tone.

"Okay, Lemmie get this straight," Darien said, disbelief dripping from his voice. "You want me to believe that I have a _gland_ in _my head that allows me to go _invisible_?" He looked from Hobbes to Claire, wondering about their level of sanity._

"Okay, you know what, Claire?" Hobbes said, turning to Claire. "We're gettin' nowhere here. I think it's about time for the show part of show 'n tell."

"I agree, but, uh…" She paused, and looked thoughtful, "How are we going to get him to generate enough adrenaline to trigger the gland?"

Hobbes caught on, "Oh, yeah. We can't go the spider route, obviously. And we got no clue what he remembers he was afraid of…"

Suddenly, Claire ran up and stood on her toes in front of Darien, cutting off Hobbes' thought mid-sentence. She grabbed the sides of Darien's head, and passionately kissed him, putting all her energy and attention into the action. After a couple of shocking seconds, she pulled back, out of breath, and watched Darien's surprised face as it faded from view.

"Whoa!" A disembodied voice cried. Claire smiled at his reaction, though she couldn't see it, and Hobbes looked at Claire in horror. "Uh, how do I get back?" Darien asked, a trace of panic in his voice.

"Okay, you just need to calm down, lower your heart rate and the adrenaline levels should start to drop." Claire told Darien, using a soothing tone of voice. She looked around the room, trying to discern just where he was, while ignoring Hobbes' struggle to keep the jealously out of his expression. Claire, though she didn't show it in her professional exterior, was torn. She couldn't believe how quickly her day had made a turn for the worse. She had been so happy when she saw that Darien was up; she had chosen that _exact moment_ to tell him how she felt. How naïve could she get? Of course the fates would find it deeply amusing to give Darien amnesia at the time she wanted him most.

With a light tinkling sound, Darien appeared a few feet away from where he started, waving his now visible hand slowly in from of his face. With a stunned expression, he stumbled back a few steps and sat down heavily when he hit a chair. His eyes were wide open as he stared anxiously from Hobbes to Claire.

"Wha…" his voice cracked, and he sighed, aggravated, before clearing his throat to continue. "What the _hell_ did you guys do to me?" he yelled, fear and panic trickling into his tone.

"Darien, honey, calm down. We'll just sit down, and discuss all of this, so you can take it all in," Claire suggested to Darien in a soothing tone of voice.

"_Calm down_, she says. _Everything will turn out just fine_," Darien mocked. "How the hell do _you_ know?" he asked angrily. "You're not a _freak of nature_!" Darien closed his eyes tightly, trying to hold back his angry tears.

"Fawkes, just chill out," Hobbes added. He held out his hands in a reassuring motion. "We just need to sit down and talk all this out."

"What's there to talk about?" Darien retorted furiously, a scowl on his face, distorting his features. "You have _no idea_ what it's like to be me!"

"Neither do you, see-through boy," Hobbes remarked coyly. Darien, outraged by the others' calm demeanor, quicksilvered his hand and held it out. "You find this amusing? I'm a freak," he cried, resentment and anguish dripping from his voice.

Hobbes sighed, seeing how hard Darien was taking this. He briefly wondered how Darien had reacted the first time around. "Darien, you're not a freak."

He waved his nonexistent hand. "Is this _normal_?" He yelled, desperation and distress filling his voice. He quickly shook off the quicksilver, leaving his hand to rest dejectedly at his side. Neither Hobbes nor Claire had an answer for him as they stood there in shock. ****

After a while a bitter smile made it's way onto his face, and he closed his eyes in annoyance. "Lemmie guess," he uttered cynically. "There was a malfunction in the gland."

Claire's mouth dropped open in surprise, while Hobbes just stared blankly at Darien, stunned. "Wha… how were you able to discern that?" Claire asked, astonished at Darien's insight.

Darien laughed harshly. "What, you didn't think I would be smart enough to figure it out for myself?" At Claire's bewildered yet hurt expression, Darien sighed, toning down his frustration.

"Come on. I may not be _all there_," he said, waving his hands quickly about his head, "and this is all still somewhat of a shock to me, but didn't you stop to think I might notice a thing like _this_?" He held up his hand, the index finger of which was missing.

As he looked to his hand, the tip of his middle finger disappeared as well, with a thin rim of silver around the edge. "Aw, man," he made a disgusted face, and turned back to Claire. "It'll go back after a while, right?"


End file.
